Project Description:
In the fall of 2020, The Nevada (NV) Department of Education (NDE) submitted and receive a State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG) proposal to the Office of Special Education Programs, designed to improve academic outcomes for students with disabilities. The proposal is a collaborative effort across NDE offices, Nevada's Parent Information and Training Center - Nevada PEP (PTI), the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), and Local Education Agencies (LEAs). The proposal included two related initiatives. Goal 1 builds on the success of Assess-Plan-Teach (APT), a research-based reading intervention to increase the reading proficiency of students with disabilities (SWD), piloted in Clark County Schools in the 2015 SPDG. Replication efforts are to occur in additional Clark County schools and two additional LEAs. Goal 2's focus is to improve the reading, math, and science proficiency of students with significant cognitive disabilities, initially in Carson City Schools, with replication in three school districts, with at least six schools.
Due to the global pandemic and the significant number of educators leaving the classroom that followed, districts participating in the SPDG have been challenged not only to hire adequate staff for project implementation but also to release staff for in-person training, necessitating a change in approach to providing training and coaching.
The Nevada Center for Excellence in Disabilities, in collaboration with the Nevada Department of Education, proposes to coordinate the development of on-line modules around evidence-based practices for teaching grade aligned academics to students with disabilities with moderate to high support needs. These modules will be 508 compliant and accessible via the Nevada Department of Education's CANVAS site.
Training efforts will align with Goal 2 of the Grant and will be designed to meet the needs of general and special education teachers and administrators, family members of general and special education students, students with and without disabilities, related services personnel, paraprofessionals, university students and professors, community members, advisory committees, state partners, and others.
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Limited English, Geographic Areas, Rural/Remote, Urban
